‘Blue Jasmine,’ ‘All Is Lost’ return for Oscar run

(UPDATE: Redford and Blanchett received Golden Globe nominations Thursday morning, although their movies did not).

Two movies that generated major Oscar buzz this summer and fall — Woody Allen’s “Blue Jasmine” and Robert Redford’s one-man show, “All Is Lost” — are coming back for an encore Friday.

Like “Lee Daniels’ The Butler,” these will be Academy runs, designed to remind Oscar voters how much they liked them the first time out. Since voting for Oscar nominations begins Dec. 27, and since these two could well be forgotten in the onslaught of Christmas week films that starts with “Anchorman 2″ next Wednesday, this weekend looks like the best shot.

Both films will reopen at the Santikos Bijou theater; “Blue Jasmine” will also play at Regal’s Cielo Vista. Both are limited runs, with only a screening or two per day.

Both films have received great reviews — a 91 Tomatometer score for “Blue Jasmine” and 94 for “All Is Lost” — and both have strong Oscar candidates. “Jasmine” star Cate Blanchett may well be one of the Best Actress favorites for her portrayal of a New York woman of privilege who goes to live with her working-class sister in San Francisco after that world comes crashing down. MySA Weekend critic Mick LaSalle wrote that not only was Blanchett’s performance the best of the year, it was the best he’d seen in 10 years.

Playing an ancient mariner struggling to survive all by his lonesome after a stray cargo container knocks a hole in his boat, the 76-year-old Redford has drawn praise for an almost wordless role of a man facing the uncaring elements and his own mortality. Redford has never won an acting Oscar. In fact, he has only been nominated once, for “The Sting” in 1974. (He lost to Jack Lemmon, nominated for “Save the Tiger”).

Redford did win the directing Oscar for “Ordinary People” in 1980 and got an honorary Oscar in 2002 for founding the Sundance Film Festival, which showcases indie films every January in Park Cities, Utah. An Oscar win when the statuettes are handed out March 2 would probably feel like a Lifetime Achievement Award, but better late than never.

If his name does get called when nominations are announced the morning of Jan. 16, he’ll surely set the record for fewest words spoken by a Best Actor nominee.